All posts tagged Chuck Jaffe

If you’re like the vast, vast majority of American who played this week’s Powerball lottery (we did), then you just flushed $2, or more, down the drain.

But just because your Powerball dreams didn’t come true doesn’t mean there isn’t anything of value you can get out of playing the lottery, MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe said this morning on the Markets Hub.

It’s all about setting priorities…

For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.

Some lucky American, or Americans, is going to get richer tonight. A lot richer.

The Powerball jackpot, now up to more than $500 million, sees its drawing tonight, and an awful lot of people with two dollars and a dream are plunking their money down for a chance at winning this life-changing hoard.

What would you do with it? Buy a mansion? Buy an island? Buy the Cleveland Browns?

Go ahead, MarketBeaters, dream on, and tell us what you’d do with the mountain of money. Have some fun with it, but don’t take it too seriously; after all the odds of you winning are about 1-in-175 million.

MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe stopped by the Markets Hub this morning and said it’s fine to have a little fun with the drawing. But not only do you not materially increase your odds by buying more than one ticket, you don’t increase the fun, either, and you’re just throwing away even more money in a hopeless scheme.

As has been pointed out by any number of readers, a Powerball ticket is $2. We have adjusted the post accordingly.

For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.

The decisions that make a good financial planner worth the fees aren’t necessarily the ones you might think. MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe explained the details of a surprising new study on the Markets Hub this morning.

For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.

The Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday in favor of the Affordable Care Act promises that Americans will have access to healthcare, but it doesn’t necessarily make it any more, you know, affordable, MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe explained on the Markets Hub this morning.

Some people, faced with the upfront costs of healthcare, may decide to try and go without it, but that would be a mistake, Jaffe says. While most people might think that losing their income would be worse than losing their healthcare, people should be prepared for the loss of either.

MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe stopped by the Markets Hub this morning to talk about the hottest thing in separating a fool from his money since tulips: so-called crowd funding.

You know how back in the day your favorite band might pass the hat looking for money to produce its new CD? Or your local barber’s looking for help in an expansion? That kind of “micro-financing” is being taken online, where the proverbial power of social media is being leveraged to help investors and entrepreneurs get together and start the next magical, revolutionary investment wave. Very hip. Very new wave.

But the pitfalls are real and deep.

For one thing, this isn’t for most investors, even if it will seem that way. We’re not really talking about bands or barbers. We’re talking about high-risk, high-reward investments. The failure rate of new businesses is high. Deep-pocket capitalists can afford to absorb the losses waiting for the next Instagram. Most people cannot.

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